This document contains instructions on how to build the FreeType library
on Unix systems. This also works for emulations like Cygwin or MSys on
Win32:
I. Ensure that you are using GNU Make
-------------------------------------
The FreeType build system _exclusively_ works with GNU Make. You
will not be able to compile the library with the instructions
below using any other alternative (including BSD Make).
Trying to compile the library with a different Make tool will
print a message like:
Sorry, GNU make is required to build FreeType2.
and the build process will be aborted. If this happens, install
GNU Make on your system, and use the GNUMAKE environment variable
to name it.
IV. Build and install the library
---------------------------------
The following should work on all Unix systems where the 'make'
command invokes GNU Make:
./configure --prefix=<yourprefix>
make
make install (as root)
where "<yourprefix>" must be replaced by the prefix returned by
the "freetype-config" command.
When using a different command to invoke GNU Make, use the GNUMAKE
variable. For example, if `gmake' is the command to use on your
system, do something like:
GNUMAKE=gmake ./configure --prefix=<yourprefix>
gmake
gmake install (as root)
If this still doesn't work, something's rotten on your system(
(e.g. you're using a very old version of GNU Make)
I. Unix systems
---------------
If you have GNU Make installed, simply type
./configure
make
make install
on the command line to configure, build and install FreeType on your
system. Note that the default installation path is "/usr/local".
Please read the file README.UNX, it contains _critical_ information
regarding the installation of FreeType on many Unix systems.
II. From the command line
-------------------------
If you are not using Unix, there are two ways to quickly build
FreeType 2 from the command line.
The first, and favorite one, is to use the "Jam" build tool. Jam is
a highly portable replacement for Make whose control files do not
depend on the current platform or compiler toolset.
For more information, please see:
http://www.freetype.org/jam/index.html
The second one is to use "GNU Make" (and NO OTHER MAKE TOOL).
1. Building FT2 with "Jam"
--------------------------
Once you've got *our version* of the Jam tool installed on your
system, simply go to the top-level FT2 directory, then type
"jam"
on the command line. This will build the library and place it in
the "objs" directory.
By default, a static library is built. On Unix systems, it is
possible to build a shared library through the "libtool" script.
You need to have libtool installed on your system, then re-define
a few environment variables before invoking Jam, as in
export CC="libtool --mode=compile cc"
export LINK="libtool --mode=link cc"
jam
In later releases of FT2, building shared libraries with Jam
should become automatic on Unix systems.
2. Building FT2 with "GNU Make"
-------------------------------
You need to have GNU Make (version 3.78.1 or newer) installed on
your system to compile the library from the command line. This will
_NOT_ work with other make tools (including BSD make)!
[Well, this is not really correct. Recently, a perl implementation
of make called `makepp' has appeared which can also build FreeType 2
successfully on Unix platforms. See http://makepp.sourceforge.net
for more details.]
- Go to the `freetype2' directory.
- Unix (any C compiler should work):
- make setup (don't worry, this will invoke a configure script)
- make
- make install
Alternatively, you can pass parameters to the configure script
within the CFG variable, as in:
- make setup CFG="--prefix=/usr"
- make
- make install
If the configure script isn't run, try to add `unix' as a target
on the command line, e.g.:
- make setup unix CFG="--prefix=/opt/experimental"
- Windows:
We provide a version of GNU Make for Win32 on the FreeType site.
See http://www.freetype.org/download.html for details.
- gcc (Mingw, _not_ CygWin):
- make setup
- make
- Visual C++:
- make setup visualc
- make
- other compilers:
- make setup bcc32 -> Borland C++ 32 bits
- make setup intelc -> Intel C++
- make setup watcom -> Watcom C++
- make setup lcc -> Win32-LCC
If you want to build FreeType 2 in another directory, you must set
two environment variables, `OJB_DIR' and `TOP_DIR'. The former
gives the directory where the object files and the library should be
created (this directory must exist), the latter the top directory of
the FreeType 2 source tree. Example:
OBJ_DIR=~/freetype2.compiled TOP_DIR=~/freetype2 \
make -f$TOP_DIR/Makefile setup ansi
OBJ_DIR=~/freetype2.compiled TOP_DIR=~/freetype2 \
make -f$TOP_DIR/Makefile
On Unix boxes, calling `configure' from the build directory is
sufficient; it will build a small Makefile which calls the
FreeType 2 Makefile with the necessary parameters.
--- end of INSTALL --